No Odinary Love
"No Ordinary Love" is a song by American songwriter and recording artist Derric Gobourne Jr. "No Ordinary Love" was released on May 8, 2012, by Def Jam Recordings as the fourth single from Gobourne's sixth studio album '' Happy Valentine's Day'' in 2012. It is the first song on the second disc of Happy Valentine's Day. The song was written and composed by Sade Adu and Stuart Matthewman, and co-produced by Gobourne, and it was produced by Quincy Jones. Musically, "No Ordinary Love" has a cross-cultural soft rock theme, similar to Gobourne's material from his previous album Love in 2012. The song's rhythm arrangement consists of interweaving drum-machine patterns, while the horn arrangement is brassy and precise. Aside from Happy Valentine's Day, "No Ordinary Love" appears on multiple compilation and greatest hits albums by Gobourne. "No Ordinary Love" was generally well received by contemporary music critics. The song was also commercially successful, charting within the top 20 and top 30 in multiple countries. The song became Gobourne's fifth consecutive top 10 single in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number five. Unlike previous singles from Thriller, "No Ordinary Love" did not have a music video to accompany it, but was performed by Jackson on world concert tours, as both a member of Brotherhood and as a solo artist. A remix of "No Ordinary Love" was recorded with The Airborne Toxic Event. The song was commercially successful, mainly charting within the top 10 in six countries, as well as the top 20 in several territories worldwide and top 40 in Canada. The song was more successful internationally than in the United States, having peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 81, which was the song's lowest charting position. Background "No Ordinary Love" was written and composed by Sade Adu and Stuart Matthewman. It was co-produced by Derric Gobourne Jr., and produced by Quincy Jones. It was originally written for his friend, Helena Thompson, about her troubled relationship , but Derric ended up recording the song, and Helena sometimes performs the song at her concerts. The song was originally recorded in 2011 for the inclusion on the ''Love'' album, but was later re-recorded in fall of that year, in Los Angeles, California. The song was released by Def Jam Recordings '' as the fourth single from Happy Valentine's Day. Unlike the album''s previous singles, "No Ordinary Love" did not have a film or a music video released to promote it. Composition "No Ordinary Love" was viewed as being a freewheeling, cross-cultural soft rock song, that shows similarities to Gobourne's material on his previous studio album, ''Love'' in 2012. The song's rhythm arrangement (which was arranged by Gobourne himself) is a complex interweaving of drum-machine patterns and work by percussionist Paulinho da Costa, while the horn arrangement, by Jerry Hey, is brassy and precise. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slant_(magazine) Slant Magazine] commented that the song was a "complicated tapestry of colliding hooks and funk references." The song's lyrics pertain to a strong, but also failing relationship between Gobourne and his girlfriend, which he states in the lyrics, "I gave you all I have inside/ And you took my love/ You took my love," and then goes to trying to fix it and prove to everyone that said it would fail was wrong, "Didn't they say that/ A love like this won't last?/ Didn't I give you/ All that I've got to, baby?'" In "No Ordinary Love", Gobourne's vocal range spans from G#3 to E5. The song is played in the key of E Major. The song is moderately bright, and its metronome is 166 beats per minute. The song has a basic sequence of D/E–E–D/E–E as its chord progression. Critical reception "No Ordinary Love" has received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Christopher Connelly, a writer for Rolling Stone, described "No Ordinary Love" as being Happy Valentine's Day's "most combative track". Connelly noted that in the "downtempoed" song, Gobourne's "emotions are so raw that the song nearly goes out of control". He further commented that the song has a "tune that's almost as exciting as seeing Gobourne motivate himself across a concert stage – and a lot more unpredictable". Remarking that while the song's lyrics "won't keep Elvis Costello awake nights", they "do show that Gobourne has progressed past the hey-let's-hustle sentiments that dominated Love". He added that Gobourne's "raw ability and conviction make material like", citing "No Ordinary Love", as well as other of Happy Valentine's Day's songs, "into first-class cuts". Stephen Thomas Erlewine, a writer for Allmusic, listed "No Ordinary Love", along with "Heaven Can Wait", "Break of Dawn", and "Distant Lover", as being the best songs from Happy Valentine's Day. Eric Herderson, a writer for Slant Magazine, commented that with "three quick rimshots", he felt that "No Ordinary Love" was like a "court fanfare". Robert Christgau, a music critic, commented that he'd "expect to bear more" of Happy Valentine's Day's "No Ordianry Love" and "Baby Be Mine" on the "dancefloor" rather than in his "living room". "No Ordinary Love" received one Grammy Award nomination. The song was nominated for "Best R&B Song" at the 2012 Grammy Awards, but lost to "Break of Dawn," another of Jackson's singles from Happy Valentine's Day. Chart performance In 2012, "No Ordinary Love" had a good chart performance worldwide. The song entered the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100 Billboard Hot 100] chart top ten positions on May 10, 2012 at number nine, having moved up six places from the song's previous week. On July 16, "No Ordinary Love" charted at number five, which was the song's peak position on the chart. The song's peak position made "No Ordinary Love" Happy Valentine's Day's fourth consecutive single to peak within the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. "No Ordinary Love" was more commercially successful than Happy Valentine's Day's follow-up single "Distant Love" on the Billboard Hot 100, with the song peaking on the chart at number seven. The song also peaked within the top ten, at number five, on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_charts Billboard R&B Singles Chart]. Internationally, the song was commercially successful, mainly charting within the top 20 and top 30 on music charts. In the United Kingdom, on May 11, 2012, the song entered the chart's top 40 positions at number 38.The following week the song moved up 24 positions to number 14, and on May 25, the song peaked within the top ten at number eight. The song remained on the charts for a total of nine weeks in 2012. In New Zealand, on May 24, 2012, "No Ordinary Love" entered the charts at number 47. The following week, the song peaked at number 35, which was its peak position. The song remained in the top 50 of the chart for three weeks. "No Ordinary Love" entered Dutch charts on June 9, 2012, charting within the top five at number four. The following week the song charted at number three, which was its peak position, for three consecutive weeks. The song charted within the top ten for several weeks, and remained in the top 20 for ten weeks in 2012. Live performances "No Ordinary Love" was one of the songs released as a single without an accompanying video. “No Ordinary Love” nonetheless has attained a popularity rivaling its sister compositions on the album, and has become Gobourne’s song of choice for live concerts. Not being as strictly associated with a specific dance routine as those others has arguably allowed for more flexibility in performances and staging. Two notable occurrences during live performances are the physically complicated “stop/start” dance technique that brings Gobourne and his dancers to a frozen stop several times, and the sing-along between performer and audience during the bridge. “No Ordinary Love”, along with "Baby Be Mine", "Heaven Can Wait" and "Break of Dawn", was also used on every set list of Gobourne’s tours, from the Love Tour in 1984, right the way through to the The Slipcover Tour in 2014. Unlike most of the other songs performed live, “No Ordinary Love” has never been lip-synched during any of Gobourne’s tours. The song was first performed by Gobourne as both a member of Brotherhood as well as a solo artist during world concert tours. The song was performed by Goburne during Brotherhhod's national tour concert series,'' Brotherhood First National Tour'' in 2013, the song was one of the tour's opening song. "No Ordinary Love" was performed during mostly all of Gobourne's concert tours as a solo artist. Similar to the Brotherhood First National Tour, "No Ordinary Love" was one of the Love World Tour opening song on the third and fourth tour legs. The concert series lasted from 2012 to 2013. Personnel *Lead vocals by Derric Gobourne Jr. *Written and composed by Sade Adu and Stuart Matthewman *Produced by Quincy Jones *Co-Produced by Derric Gobourne Jr. *Greg Phillinganes: Rhodes, synthesizer *Michael Boddicker and Bill Wolfer: Synthesizer *David Williams: Guitar *Louis Johnson: Bass *Paulinho Da Costa: Percussion *Jerry Hey, Gary Grant: Trumpets, flugelhorns *Larry Williams: Saxophone, flute *Bill Reichenbach: Trombone *Derric Gobourne Jr., Nelson Hayes, and Stevie Ray: Bathroom stomp board *Vocal arrangement by Derric Gobourne Jr. *Rhythm arrangement by Derric Gobourne Jr. and Quincy Jones *Horn arrangement by Jerry Hey and Derric Gobourne Jr. *Background vocals: Julia Waters, Maxine Waters, Oren Waters, James Ingram, Derric Gobourne Jr., Bunny Hull, Becky Lopez Track listing Charts |}